Salinas Valley Sports Hall of Fame ready to add more names to its wall

Tucked away inside Rabobank Stadium in Salinas is the Salinas Valley Sports Hall of Fame. It’s dedicated to athletes and coaches who made their mark in the Salinas Valley.

One of those athletes is Ron Critchfield, who was honored in 2015 with a plaque to commemorate his talents as a league champion multiple times with Salinas High School’s basketball team.

“I started playing basketball when I was maybe 6 years old over at Methodist Church in Salinas. When there was nobody in town. We had a team called the Fire Balls. We still talk to one another. If they’re here of course. A lot of them aren’t,” he says.

Critchfield also led Palma to league and CCS Championships as a coach.

“When I was installed to give you an example. I had about 5 or 6 of my former players come in from Sacramento. It was an honor to see them and for them to take the time to do that,” says Critchfield.

Inductees this year include Ramiro Corrales of the San Jose Earthquakes and Olympians Alvin and Calvin Harrison. It also includes former newspaper writer George Watkins.

“The real purpose behind this hall of fame in the first place was to let people know the athletes coming out of the Salinas Valley,” says Watkins.

Watkins reported on the accomplishments of many of the Salinas Valley Sports Hall of Famers, including Tony Teresa.

Teresa was a football and baseball coach at Hartnell whose NFL days are traced back to the Bay Area.

“A lot of the people know what Tony Theresa did,” explains Watkins. “What they may not know is that Tony scored the first touchdown in Oakland Raider history. There’s stories like that on every plaque.”

Watkins also spoke of the “California Comet,” or Hal Davis.

“From 1940 to 1943, he was pretty much the world’s fastest human,” says Watkins. “He tied Jesse Owens record for the 100 meter dash with a 10.2 while he was at Hartnell College.”

Watkins says any olympic hopes for Davis were dashed when the United States entered into World War 2.

Ron Critchfield, meanwhile, talked about how honorable it was to be on the Salinas Valley Sports Hall of Fame.

He shares a plaque on the wall with his brother, Russ, having a plaque nearby.

Ron says he hopes he left a good impression on those he coached in his 26 year tenure.

“Everyone likes to be remembered as a good guy. But you know when you’re coaching you’re a good guy sometimes and you’re not sometimes. But that comes with the territory,” Ron says.

One thing he says he hopes for young athletes is to not get too caught up in the aspect of success individually, but to focus on success as a team.

Watkins will be inducted on Saturday August 25 at the Storm House in Salinas.

For details and more information on past and current inductees click here